KAPP SPEARHEADS PROTEAS WOMEN VICTORY TO CLINCH SERIES

Proteas women sealed their series against Sri Lanka with a 30-run win in the second game in Potchefstroom. Captain Chamari Atapattu powered Sri Lanka’s chase with a boundary-laden 94, but no other Sri Lanka batsman reached fifty and the visitors were bowled out for 231 in pursuit of a revised target of 262 in 47 overs. The visitors lost eight wickets for 63 runs, after a 110-run second-wicket stand.

The hosts were without their captain, Dane van Niekerk, who was ruled out for three months due to a stress fracture, but in her absence, fifties for Laura Wolvaardt, Lara Goodall and Marizanne Kapp – who slammed four sixes in her 34-ball 69 – set up an imposing total of 268 for 7.

Wolvaardt had been out for a golden duck in the first match, but this time around she struck seven boundaries inside the Powerplay and raised a 49-ball fifty in the 15th over. She added 71 with Andrie Steyn, who was a little more circumspect in compiling her 24. After Wolvaardt fell to an edge through to wicketkeeper Prasadani Weerakkody, Lara Goodall kept the scoreboard ticking despite Sri Lanka’s repeated strikes to dent the middle order.

Goodall reached 52 – her maiden ODI fifty – before she became Kavisha Dilhari’s second victim with the score at 183 for 6 in the 42nd over. Her dismissal brought Kapp and Faye Tunnicliffe together, and they added a rapid 85 for the seventh wicket that put South Africa well on top.

While Tunnicliffe focused on turning the strike over, Kapp’s first six brought up South Africa’s 200 in the 46th over. In the last five overs of the innings, the hosts added a whopping 69 runs, with Kapp and Tunnicliffe combining to take 20 off a single over from Inoka Ranaweera.

Sri Lanka needed a strong start to keep their chase on track, and although Atapattu was immediately into her groove, Weerakkody fell almost immediately, slicing a catch to Mignon du Preez at backward point off Kapp in the fourth over. Rain washed over the ground soon after, forcing an adjustment to Sri Lanka’s target and the overs they would have to reach it.

Atapattu’s response was to go on the offensive, and two fours and a six in Masabata Klaas’ first over took her racing into the 40s. Another boundary off Tumi Sekhukhune took her to a 53-ball fifty in the 16th over, the Sri Lankan captain smashing 18 runs off the medium pacer’s next over to raise her team’s 100.
Atapattu took her stand with Anushka Sanjeewani beyond 100 with her third six, off Nadine de Klerk, and was in sight of what would have been her fifth ODI hundred when she fell against the run of play, edging a swipe at stand-in captain Sune Luus’ legspin.

Her dismissal knocked some of the fight out of Sri Lanka, and when Sanjeewani and Shashikala Siriwardene fell in successive deliveries soon afterwards, the visitors really lost their way. A required rate that had been kept in check soon ballooned to more than a run a ball, and Sri Lanka were left needing 69 from the last ten overs of their innings with five wickets still standing.

Wolvaardt followed her innings with the bat up with an excellent performance in the field, effecting two run-outs to tighten South Africa’s grip and also holding a catch at deep midwicket to get rid of Nilakshi de Silva. With the run rate rapidly inflating, two further run-outs deepened Sri Lanka’s woes, and Shabnim Ismail removed a Dilscooping Dilhari in the final over of the innings to bring the match to an end, and seal the series win.